How lived experience, decentralized trials, nonprofit drug development, and AI could reshape the path from scientific discovery to the patient.

Clinical research is built to answer extraordinarily complex scientific questions. But for the person deciding whether to participate in a trial, the questions are often much more immediate: How far will I have to travel? Can I take time away from work? Who will care for my children? Will I understand what is happening? And will anyone listen to what I need?

In our latest episode of The Humble Hang, we sat down with Craig Lipset, a longtime clinical research innovator whose career has spanned academic research centers, biotech, pharmaceutical leadership, patient advocacy, and nonprofit drug development. Formerly the head of clinical innovation at Pfizer, Craig helped pioneer the first fully decentralized clinical trial under an Investigational New Drug application and led an early initiative to return data to research participants. Today, he is co-founder and co-chair of the Digital Trials & Research Alliance (DTRA) and works across a number of initiatives seeking to make drug development more accessible, efficient, and responsive to patients.

Yet Craig’s perspective is not shaped by professional experience alone. His own patient journey managing a complex diagnosis, navigating health data, and seeking greater flexibility and agency in his own care has deeply informed the innovation he has pursued throughout his career.

A Humble Hang with John Licata - Futures Director and Quantum Lead at ServiceNow

Most people wait for the future to arrive.

John Licata spends his career looking for it before everyone else sees it.

As Director of ServiceNow Futures, John's role isn't simply to predict what's next. It's to identify the subtle signals that eventually become major shifts in technology, business, and society. Those signals might come from a government investment, a customer conversation, a research paper, or even an overlooked news headline. The challenge isn't finding information; we're surrounded by it. The challenge is recognizing which signals actually matter.

That ability to "look around corners" became one of the central themes of our conversation.

In this episode of The Humble Hang, we sit down with Kat McDavitt - President & Founder of Innsena and Founder & CEO of the Zorya Foundation, for an honest conversation about the future of healthcare, the power of community, and why meaningful change starts with people.

Together, we explore why healthcare has become one of the most complex systems in the world, the role AI can (and can't) play in improving care, the challenges facing rural communities, and how better incentives, not just better technology, can drive lasting transformation.

Kat also shares the deeply personal story behind the Zorya Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting women working in healthcare through childcare grants, helping them stay in the workforce while advancing their careers.

This conversation is a reminder that while policy and technology matter, the future of healthcare will ultimately be shaped by the people willing to show up, listen, and make a difference, one community at a time.

Our inaugural Episode:

Most people encounter the healthcare system and walk away grateful it exists. Grace Cordovano encountered it and decided to fix it.

Grace Cordovano is a patient advocate for cancer patients — the person who shows up when the system gets complicated, when the jargon becomes a wall, and when families need someone in their corner who actually knows the room.

In this inaugural episode of The Humble Hang, hosts Ritesh Patel and Shuchi Rana sit down with Grace for an honest conversation about what drives her, where she came from, and why she cannot stop doing this work.

This is not a polished origin story. It is the real one. Grace talks about how she got started — not the LinkedIn version, but the version with friction in it. She talks about what patient advocacy actually means when the stakes are a human life. And she talks about the quiet, persistent outrage that turns a person into a champion for strangers.

No spin. No slides.Just three people, talking about the things that matter. If you have ever felt lost inside a system that was supposed to help you, this episode is for you. If you have never felt that way, listen anyway. Someday, someone you love will.